San Diego’s popular Korean supermarket, Zion Market, has officially relocated from Mercury Street to a new home nearly three times larger on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.

The local company, which has five locations in California, opened a store on Convoy Street more than three decades ago, in 1979, making it the city’s first Korean and Korean-Japanese market.

A series of moves and expansions grew the store from its original 3,000 square feet to 32,500 square feet in 2002. The new location at 7655 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, at the site of a former Sears Essentials store, is 97,000 square feet and has a setup similar to the one at the popular 99 Ranch Market about a half-mile west.

Inside, shoppers will find six smaller individual eateries, four cosmetic stores, two cellphone stores, a Chinese herbal shop and a high-end jewelry store. Also inside is a Paris Baguette, the fast-growing Korea-based bakery.

“What we’re trying to do is create a mini-shopping mall,” said manager Timothy Moon. Not all the stores are Korean or Korean-owned, he added, because he wants to give shoppers diverse offerings.

Zion Market also expanded its own inventory. The produce area is “at least three times larger than at the ‘old’ Zion,” wrote San Diego blogger Cathy in a first-look review of the store. “There is so much extra space and a greater selection,” she said of the store overall.

The new location also has 12 cash registers, double the number at the recently vacated store, and about 1,000 parking spaces, compared with the previous 132. Moon said he expects his customer count of 15,000 per week to double now.

The old store was often crowded, he said, and better parking was a big motive for this move.

Zion Market says it offers the lowest produce prices around on everything from instant spicy noodles and vegetables to Korean barbecue meats and the distilled beverage soju.

People on
Yelp.com seem to agree. The store has received more than 300 reviews on the social network, most of them positive. Reviewer Vivian H. wrote that the prices are “insanely cheap” compared with mainstream big-box supermarkets.

The store made its move in late May, but the grand opening is scheduled for Saturday and will include giveaways, flash mobs and live entertainment, Moon said.